Always Only Jesus - Part B

That's what it means to be in Christ, living with that duality.

I know I live here and I should be responsible here, but I also know that I have a heavenly home. And keeping that in mind, and you'll find this in the book, Paul is always drawing our attention to the fact that we have a heavenly home that should always be part of our thought process. We are in Christ.

As Christians, we are citizens of both heaven and here on earth. And as Skip explains in his message today, on Connect with Skip Heitzig, your spiritual address in heaven should always be a part of your thinking as you live here on earth. But first, we want to tell you about a resource that'll help you follow God's will as you keep your heavenly citizenship in mind. We want to tell you about a powerful resource that will help you understand and follow God's will. It's Pastor Skip's eight message package, Discovering God's Will. You have the Spirit of God living in you and He will guide you, he says, with His eye. And do you realize God is more interested in guiding you than you are in being guided?

So as soon as you say, Lord, I want to take and be ruled by your peace and rooted in scripture and I want to honor your name, He's right there to direct your steps. Skip Heitzig's Discovering God's Will package includes message titles such as Guardrails to Knowing God's Will and Navigating Another Year as part of eight full length teachings by Skip. We'll send you this powerful resource as thanks for your gift to expand Connect with Skip Heitzig to reach more people in major US cities. So request your resource when you give and start to make your life count for God's kingdom. Just call 800-922-1888 or visit connectwithskip.com slash offer.

That's connectwithskip.com slash offer. Okay, we're in Colossians one again, as we go to Skip for today's study. The question every human being that I've ever met is asked. And the question is, why is there such an evil world if a good God created it? How can there be such an evil world if a good God created it?

So they came up with a solution and there were different elements in this belief system. First of all, they said, well, God is good, but all matter, the material world is evil. Therefore, God did not create the world. Who did create the world? They said, an emanation that proceeded from God created the world. So they said thousands upon thousands of emanations, angels, sub-gods, went out from God until there was an emanation so far from God that emanation didn't even know who God was. That emanation created the material world.

Crazy, right? They believed Jesus was an emanation, albeit a good one, like a good angel. But because Jesus was a good emanation and the material world is evil, they said Jesus did not have a physical body. That if you saw somebody walking, it was a phantom that you saw.

It wasn't a real material person because a good emanation would never have a material body. So they had all these crazy stories like, Jesus would walk on the sand but never leave footprints because he wasn't a real physical body. They also had a mixture of Jewish legalism in this belief system, rigid self-denial. They pushed circumcision.

They emphasized a certain diet, dietary restrictions, holy days, new moons, festivals. So Paul's answer to all that belief system is this, always only Jesus. And Paul will say, Jesus Christ is God. Jesus Christ is God with a human body. And in Jesus is all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. He's all that you need.

You don't need Jesus plus anything or anyone else. So he is writing this out of concern, out of concern. Now I want to say this before we get into the second point, and I want you to really pick up on this. The church, I'm speaking generally in the the church worldwide, the true church, the church is always in danger. The church is always in danger. There's never not a time when the church is not in danger. There's never a time when the church is not in danger. So in every generation, in every continent, in every place, at all times, at all times the church is facing danger. I made it pretty clear, right?

Now it's pretty easy to understand why that is. Jesus said he would build his church. Paul the apostle said the church is the pillar and ground of all truth. And if the church is that, and if the church is at the center of God's plan for humanity, then you can expect Satan to always attack it.

Right? If God loves something, the devil hates that. So we like to say God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life, true, but the devil hates you and has a miserable plan for your life and a miserable plan for the church, if you let him. So just like if you eat ice cream and you leave the bowl out overnight, tell me what crawls in the next day or during the night. Ants, they get attracted to that. Ants come.

It's sweet. Ants come. You turn on your porch light at night and you come home and you go look at the light. What's flying around the light?

Moths, bugs. Just as ants are attracted to the sweet ice cream, just as bugs are attracted to the light, Satan and demons are attracted to the church. Just like you learned in school, every action brings an equal and opposite reaction. That's true spiritually. Every act of God is going to bring a counter action.

You are a target of the enemy. Now, we don't deal with Gnosticism. That's not what we are facing. But there is deconstructionism in the church. There is progressive Christianity in the church. It fights and faces liberalism, and I'm speaking theologically principally, cults in every age. So the church is always in danger. What Paul had a concern for, we shouldn't let our guard down with. So that's first concern for the church. Second, I want to consider the correspondence to the church. So look at verse 2. To the saints and faithful brethren in Christ who are in Colossae.

This is beautiful to me. Paul is riding out of concern for the church. Paul knows there's a heresy invading the church. Paul knows this is a bogus system that people are buying into.

I've got to write something about that. But he doesn't begin his letter. He doesn't begin immediately by going after the false teachers and their heresies. He doesn't begin by scolding the church saying, you guys are a bunch of losers for listening to those knuckleheads. No, he begins by encouraging and affirming faithful believers and by exalting Jesus Christ. The whole chapter is that. Chapter 1. So again in verse 3, knowing the concern that he has, we give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you.

In verse 9, for this reason we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you and ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. He purposely uses exalted language. Exalted language.

Exalted language. Notice that he says, to the saints. Saints. Hagias.

Separated ones. He's saying, you all are God's children. He's called you. You're saints. By the way, in the New Testament, a saint is not a dead guy with a little halo painted on top of him. Saints are always people who are alive, separated under God. You're a saint. I'm a saint. I'd like to be called Saint Skip from now on, if you don't mind. Kind of has a ring to it, don't you think? No, not really.

But you could. We are saints. And then notice the second term. And faithful brethren. One of the loveliest names in the New Testament for a Christian. So once again, Paul doesn't begin by attacking sinners.

He begins by affirming saints and faithful brethren. I've noticed that some preachers are always mad. They seem always angry. They've got some bone to pick with something or someone all the time. Rebuking anyone who disagrees with them. Slamming political leaders.

Ranting about personal opinions. Ben Franklin said, you're going to catch more flies with honey than you ever will with vinegar. If you want to win people to your cause, be nice, be sweet. It goes a lot further than being rigid, angry, and bitter, and edgy. 2 Timothy chapter 2, Paul writes, and a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach patient in humility, correcting those who are in opposition, if God perhaps will grant them repentance so that they may know the truth and they may come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, having been taken captive by him to do his will. You've heard me and others say for years that you should be known for what you're for more than for what you're against.

But I want to add to that and say be known by who it is you're for rather than who it is you're against. Be for Jesus. Be Jesus always and only. And you do that by exalting Christ and encouraging his people. So yes, the church is always in danger, but God's true church is always around also.

So whenever there are problems or false doctrines or aberrant and errant activities, there's also faithful, mature believers that you can appeal to. Perhaps this is best noticed in the words of Jesus himself. In Revelation chapter 2 and 3, Jesus writes, you remember this, seven letters to seven churches? We call them letters really, they're like little postcards, just a few lines to each of these churches in Asia Minor, but it's Jesus' words. In each of those little postcards, Jesus points at a problem and is picking at that problem, makes known to them there's a problem.

And then he says, problem. But in every single letter, he also makes an appeal and a promise to somebody he calls the overcomer, the overcomer, every letter. So to the church of Ephesus, to him who overcomes, I will give to eat from the tree of life. To the church of Smyrna, he who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death. To the church at Pergamos, to him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. To the church of Thyatira, he who overcomes and keeps my works until the end. To the church of Sardis, he who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments. To the church at Philadelphia, he who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. And to the church at Laodicea, he who overcomes, I will grant him to sit with me on my throne as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. In every letter, Jesus is giving a promise to the saints and faithful brethren, or as he calls them, the overcomers. Maybe, just maybe, we should celebrate the saints more than worry about all the aunts. Instead of getting mad because they're not coming to church, how about love on those who overcome in church? The faithful ones.

Build them up. Speak to the saints and the faithful brethren. I fear that some people are more concerned with false brethren than they are with faithful brethren. So, to the saints and faithful brethren is his correspondence. Now, something else. Just notice quickly.

We don't have time. I can get carried away in any of these areas, but notice that he is writing to a group of people that has not one but two addresses. They are brethren in Christ who are in Colossae. Do you know that the child of God has dual citizenship? We carry two passports. We have a heavenly passport. We are citizens of heaven, says in Philippians, but we also should be responsible citizens here on earth. So, I'm in Albuquerque, but I'm also in Christ. So, look at your spiritual address. To the faithful brethren in Christ.

This is very unique. 87 times the New Testament says we are in Christ, and Paul uses them most of the time. I think Peter does twice. Luke once, but he's quoting Paul.

So, really, this is Paul's deal. You are in Christ. This is unique because no world religion ever talks that way. You will never hear a Muslim say, I am in Muhammad.

You'll never hear a Mormon say, I'm in Joseph Smith, or a Jewish person. I'm in Moses, or a Buddha say, I'm in Buddha, but you hear Christians say, I'm in Christ. I've been crucified with Christ. Nevertheless, I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. So, we have the life of Jesus in us, and our life is wrapped up in him.

We are in Christ. I'm going to share with you a letter that is pretty old. It goes back to the second century AD, so it's almost as old as the Bible. It is part of the epistle to Diogenes, who was an unbelieving Roman government official. Some believe that he was the guy who tutored one of the Caesars of Rome, but it's explaining the presence of Christians in the Roman Empire.

I want you to see it. Christians are not marked out from the rest of mankind by their country or their speech or customs. They dwell in cities, both Greek and barbarian, each as his own lotus caste, following the customs of the region in clothing and in food and in the outward things of life generally. Yet, they manifest the wonderful and openly paradoxical character of their own state. They inhabit the land of their birth, but as temporary residents thereof, they take their share of all responsibilities as citizens and endure all disabilities as aliens.

Every foreign land is their native land, and every native land a foreign land. They pass their days upon the earth, but their citizenship is in heaven. That's what it means to be in Christ, living with that duality. I know I live here, and I should be responsible here, but I also know that I have a heavenly home, and keeping that in mind.

And you'll find this in the book. Paul is always drawing our attention to the fact that we have a heavenly home that should always be part of our thought processes. We are in Christ. That's also one of our struggles, and it should be a struggle. The struggle is how do I honor the Lord my heavenly address as a citizen of heaven, being in Christ, at the same time be responsible in a very secular and sometimes anti-God environment. We struggle with that. We should struggle with that. We're meant to struggle with that, because the Lord Jesus in John 17 said, my prayer, Father, is not that you take them out of this world, but that you keep them from the evil one.

You see, He made clear that we are in the world, but not of the world. Don't take them out of the world. I want them in the world. I want them here. They're supposed to be here. This is their address, but keep them from the evil one.

That's the balance. In fact, on one occasion, if I'd have been there, I think I would have objected. Jesus said to his disciples, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. I'd be the guy going, excuse me, Jesus, do you not love us? Why would you send us out in the midst of wolves? You're little lambies. Do you want us to be eaten up by the wolves? No, I want by your presence as my sheep to turn those wolves, hopefully, into sheep. I'm not looking for your annihilation. I'm looking for their conversion.

The only way to do that is send you out in the midst of the wolves. So that's the balance of those two addresses in Christ in Colossae. So that's the concern for the church and the correspondence to the church. Let's look at the third aspect, the character of the church, and that is the second part of verse two. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Would you just let those two words seep into your soul? Grace and peace. That happens to be the basis for living for Jesus Christ in a world that's opposed to him is to have the character of grace and peace.

Now I know that you probably know this. When Paul writes grace and peace to you, this is a very typical way to begin a letter. It's a typical salutation. If you looked at an old Roman letter or a piece of papyri, thousands of them begin letters of correspondence exactly the same way. You have the author, you have the recipient, you have some word of greeting like rejoice.

But what Paul the apostle uniquely does is he combines the greetings of the western world and the eastern world and he tweaks it a bit. So the common Greek greeting when you saw somebody was kiren. Kiren means rejoice. The Jews see each other and what do they say when they say hello or goodbye?

What do they say? Shalom, which means peace. So the Greeks say kiren, which means rejoice. The Jewish people say peace, coming and going. What Paul does is take them, combine them, and tweak them.

What do I mean by tweak? He doesn't say kiren. He uses the word karis, which is similar.

It's part of the root word but it's a little bit different. So if you're a Greek speaker and you hear this, you go, ah, I see what you did there, Paul. You took one of our greetings but you made it spiritual. Grace, not rejoice, grace. So grace and peace to you. They happen to be called the Siamese twins of the New Testament.

You find them in every letter of Paul the apostle. It's always grace and peace and they're never reversed. It's never peace and grace.

You want to know why? You can never understand the peace of God until you have experienced the grace of God. And when you experience the grace, the unmerited, the undeserved favor, it produces peace.

That is the character it produces. So grace is the fountain. Peace is the stream that flows from it. So I want to close by asking you a simple question. Do you have peace? Listen, do you live your daily life with the experience of peace or are you filled with torment and anxiety and worry and you're torn at it or do you live with peace? Grace and peace. Interesting story.

I've always loved it. Caesar Augustus, one of the emperors, heard about a man in Rome who owed a lot of money. He was in great debt but he was very peaceful and every night he slept well on his bed. And Caesar Augustus heard about that and he told his men, find where he lives and buy his bed because he was not a peaceful person. He thought the solution is the right sleep number, right?

If I had a Tempur-Pedic mattress here at the palace, things would be good. Of course, we know that you don't get peace that way. Peace is the ability to sleep with a clear conscience and heart before God, having your mind at ease, your heart at ease before God.

And perhaps you're not experiencing peace because you haven't yet experienced God's grace. The Barna group put out a survey a few years ago. They asked people. It's a great question, actually.

Here's the survey. If you could ask God one question and you knew he would answer you, what would you ask him? Most people said, I'd like God to explain why there's so much pain and suffering in the world.

You would expect that. But a close second was, will there ever be world peace? Will there ever be world peace? Well, I can't answer if there's ever going to be world peace. I suspect not until Jesus comes. In fact, I'll just say it.

No. But I will also say this. There's peace in this part of the world, right here. I experience peace. I can be in lots of different situations that are very tough and troubling, but I have peace.

And you can have peace in your part of the world. Like we said, maranatha, hallelujah, up and down, no matter what you're going through, you can have God's peace. The tragedy of our world is that we have people out looking for peace who have never experienced God's grace. And Paul said in Romans 5, therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Peace can be, should be, your experience. But you need to experience God's unmerited favor to get there. That's Skip Heitzig's message from the series, Always Only Jesus. Now, here's Skip to share how you can keep teachings like this one today going out around the world, connecting you and others to God's word. It's easy to become wrapped up in ourselves or caught up with the world's ways, but we're called to a higher purpose. And we strive to encourage you in whatever the Lord may be calling you to.

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